Kerry's Finest Hour

An Afghan election deal averts a conflict but needs U.S. follow up.

Updated July 20, 2014 5:39 p.m. ET

John Kerry has little to show for his diplomatic exertions across the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine border or in East Asia. But the election compromise brokered by the Secretary of State represents a potential breakthrough for Afghanistan and an example of what effective American diplomacy in a disorderly world might look like.

The Kerry intervention came in time to head off a crisis, possibly a civil war, over last month's disputed presidential runoff. Flying in last weekend, America's chief diplomat worked out a deal...